December Madness…Parents SCRAMBLE for for form 1 boarding entrance

Many boarding schools in the country are now overwhelmed by online applications from pupils seeking Form One places for next year.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Mrs Tumisang Thabela said some pupils may fail to get admission at schools of their choice due to the huge number of applications.

Zimsec released Grade Seven results early this week thereby opening up floodgates for a scramble for places.

Pupils seeking Form One boarding places applied online using the Electronic Ministry’s Application Platform (EMAP) launched by Government last year.

Speaking to local paper Chronicle,Mrs Thabela said some schools received close to 4 000 applications yet they can offer just over 100 boarding places.

“There are some schools with applications as high as 3 920 yet they have 120 available places,” said Mrs Thabela.

I don’t have actual figures and names of schools here but we do have a number of schools that are overwhelmed. So what will happen is that parents and their children have to accept that they might not be able to get their first choice schools because of competition.

She urged parents and pupils to be ready to settle for second options.